"Creaking" noise coming from my head tube?

"Creaking" noise coming from my head tube?

Alright fellas, need some help. I have a 26" PK, one of The Hundreds bikes, and it is my first ever with a 1 1/8 threadless stem / head tube. It makes a creaking noise when I steer. I have one of the cheap porkchop sealed headsets installed. It also doesn't steer very smooth. I tried to loosen the butterfly nut assembly on top, but then the whole thing loosens up and the handlebars disassociate from the tire when steered. Any ideas? Is it the cheapo headset I'm using? Do I need a stem lock? Many thanks.

Re: "Creaking" noise coming from my head tube?

Iceman is right, sounds like the stem is not tight to your fork steer tube. If installed right, you should be able to loosen the headset bolt (that goes to the starnut) and the bike should still function perfectly.

I would tighten the headset bolt, keep giving the bars a turn, and stop tightening before it gets stiff at all. Then tighten the stem bolts. Once these are tight, I usually back off the headset bolt a half turn as. if the stem is tightened properly it should not be holding any tension.

Lucky you caught this, as if your headset cap was all that was keeping your stem tight, you were one bump away from a face plant!